Sunday, August 29, 2010

Other peoples trips

Been doing the vicarious experience thing quite a bit lately. Two trips recently are hitting pangs of nostalgia since I've been through the places before by bike.

First off is Dylan's big adventure. In pure Dylan style he started from Seattle in January on a single speed and has been cranking south purely by bike ever since. He recently passed from Ecuador into Peru via the Eastern mountain route that is barely passable by vehicle. Dylan never posts photos so here are some of mine:

He also followed the same route I did in 06' up from Jaen to Chachapoyas-Cajamarca. Along this route you pass through an area of high archeological significance where Civilizations made hillside fortresses many years ago. Think Machu piccu unearthed.

After that of course is the 9,000' descent and 9,000' climb in and out of the rio Marion Canyon which simply redefines the scale at which I judged "big" climbs on a bicycle. (and that's after riding in Ladakh!)

Next of course is Brett deWoody's and Cameron Lawson's modified repeat (sans Hubbard Gap) on our 2008 trip on the Lost Coast in the Gulf of Alaska. This trip was a big leap foreword it felt like. Expedition summer time fat tire biking with packrafts. We both walked away from this one feeling like we accomplished something pretty amazing. The door to all terrain biking madness was kicked open big time.

Brett and Cam's successful endeavor takes just a weeeeeeeee bit of the specialness out of it on a personal level, but I guess just like climbing big mountains, someone is always going to come up after you. The planet is too small these days to think otherwise. Congrats to Brett and Cam on a successful trip! looking foreword to hearing about it...
Their trip blog here:

2 comments:

I admit to being a little sad to see someone repeat (most of) your lost coast trip. It is nice to see people come up with their own trips, though I suppose life as a groundbreaker can't be all bad. Hope you are well and congrats on the new addition to your family.

Just come across your blog. There looks to be some amazing photos and there must be some truely epic stories to go with them! I wish you wrote more about your experiences - it's the sort of thing that's tough to come by in England. Thanks for the photos. Spectacular.